OOS holds a Rally for Rails

This article is reproduced from The Cerulean,  To see the OOS newsletter in it's entirety go here:

 The Fall Cerulean 2016

The Holy Grail of Ohio Rails

Birds in the family Rallidae, or rails, are notoriously secretive. They live and breed in wetlands, a habitat which is difficult to bird.  Scientists and hunters who frequent the marshes during fall migration tell me they are numerous.  So why are they so hard for birders to see?

King Rail at Glacier Ridge, photo by Bruce Miller.

Birders are willing to travel many miles and stand for hours for an opportunity to see a King Rail in Ohio.  Are King Rails that rare, or are they just difficult for the novice to find?  Since rails are generally limited to wetlands, and Ohio has lost 90-93% of our wetlands, would it be surprising if rail populations are also limited?

BSBO's Mark Shieldcastle with King and Virginia Rails in hand.
 Photo by Hugh Rose.

The best way for a birder to see more rails, is to support the scientific endeavors to study them. Black Swamp Bird Observatory has been conducting studies on rails in the Lake Erie Marsh for many years.  Biologist Mark Shieldcastle will be telling the story of BSBO's study during the Fall "Rally for Rails" being held in Lakeside.

King Rail outfitted with transponder. Photo courtesy of Winous Point.

 A very large King Rail study has been going on at Winous Point Marsh Conservancy.  Transmitters have been attached to King Rails to help scientists better understand their migratory movements, life history- and possibly shed light on the sheer numbers of their population.

This Virginia Rail was a re-capture, already outfitted with a transmitter.

 The Soras and Virginia Rails are outfitted with a much less expensive transmitter that helps to track their localized movements within the marsh.  This helps the team understand preferred habitats and life history while present in Ohio's marshes.

John Simpson examines a recently captured Sora.

 These scientists at Winous Point take their jobs very seriously.  The birds are treated with the utmost care while being weighed, measured and fitted with tracking devices. Good information is reliant upon healthy and normally functioning birds.  The primary goal is to gather information with the least disturbance to the population.

A closer look at the Sora.

 Soras are one of Ohio's more abundant rails.  Other better known Rallidae, or at least one more frequently seen by birders, are coots and gallinules.  Because King and Virginia Rails are difficult to monitor visually, the tracking devices are providing needed information about those populations.

Oliver Cornet and Brendan Shirkey gently fit a harness on the Sora.

 The transmitters are attached to a harness, much like a micro-backpack.  The biologists gently work the harness onto the bird and double check to assure the bird's wing movement is not restricted.  The bird's feathers settle back around the harness.  The actions and walking gait of a recently "harnessed" bird appear normal and unencumbered.

Brendan adjusts the harness for comfort.

Brendan Shirkey will be sharing more details about the work of Winous Point and the Marsh Conservancy at the Ohio Ornithological Society's "Rally for Rails."  It will be held in conjunction with our fall Annual Meeting in Lakeside, Ohio.  Registration is now on line at http://ohiobirds.org/category/rails/#

Special funds generated by this program for the conservation and study of rails will be directly applied to programs designed to conserve these wonderfully secretive birds.

The Point of No Return

For those of you who were unable to attend the recent Conservation Symposium at the Cleveland Museum of Natural History, here is a little recap.  The line-up was a wonderful selection of people involved in or studying conservation in one form or another. Dr Bridget Stutchbury spoke on Conservation Triage, with an interesting twist.  Let's just say, we can and should make conservation a budget priority.

Dreams of Martha - Painting by Kristina Knowski

This year's topic of extinction plays well, as it is the 100 anniversary of the death of Martha, the last known Passenger Pigeon. Other topics discussed were Mussels, a program by Dr. Thomas Watters, and Conserving Plants by Dr Valerie Pence.

Chad Pregracke shows his photo of the pollution in the mighty Mississippi River.

The afternoon keynote was a real live wire!  Chad Pregracke, the founder of of Living Lands & Waters spoke on the efforts to clean up America's Rivers, from the bottom up. As CCN's Hero of the Year for 2013, there is some pretty awesome footage of this young man and his organizations efforts.  Do yourself a favor- and go HERE to see the CNN story.  It makes you realize one person can make a difference!  We can each be a force for positive change.  It was an honor to meet Chad!

Greg Lipps, one of Ohio's leading herpetologists, spoke on the effort to captive rear and re-introduce Hellbenders in Ohio's waters. Tim Krynack gave an update on the bats imperiled by White-nosed Syndrome, and Harvey Webster told the compelling story Of Mast, Men, and Memory, about the Passenger Pigeon and the lessons we should learn from its extinction.

It was my good fortune to play a role in the program as well:

My program featured the latest information on our Midwest Monarchs, and their flight for life. Generally, migration is a behavior that benefits a species, but now migration is putting our Monarchs in harm's way.  Our "migration Monarchs" are counted each year during their diapause- or rest period- in the central highlands of Mexico.  This well documented data shows a declining trend for the last 20 years.

Generally, the data is reported in hectares but World Wildlife Fund has converted that to acres and reports the population that inhabited nearly 10 acres in 2010 was a down to 1.6 acres in 2013.  In 2014 the surviving population occupied less than 1 acre. 

In a mere four years, we have lost 90% of our Midwest Monarchs.

There is currently a movement to get Monarchs listed as a "Threatened" species.  Because the two populations of Monarch on the coasts (both have very limited migrations) are doing fairly well, the species is not endangered.  It is the Midwestern Migration Phenomenon which is endangered.

We are certainly on the brink of having Monarchs extirpated from Ohio.

There are many factors at play here.  A loss of milkweed (Monarch's host plant) and a rise in the use of herbicides, pesticides and even fungicides are being implicated.  Add in climate change, which has dumped snow on wintering populations, and decimated the spring migration start-up in the drought impacted Texas.  Hopefully, the Monarch will rebound some this year, but only time will tell.

Even if their numbers increase this winter, it is time to look toward serious Monarch conservation. They should be considered the "Bald Eagles of insect conservation".  That which improves the chances for Monarchs would also benefit other insects, especially other pollinators.

So please, plant milkweed, but only if you discontinue the use of chemicals in your yard! Better yet, let's start asking our great State of Ohio to champion the cause of the Monarchs and actively manage milkweeds in Wildlife Areas, State Parks and Forests.

It would be a terrible loss to no longer have Monarchs to be tagged and raised in school programs. They are the best introduction to natural science and basic entomology!

It is far better to start conservation efforts now than to react after they are extirpated.  Please help us help the Monarchs.

Wetlands, Conservation and Waterfowl

Wetlands-
as vital to our ecosystems' health as kidneys are to a human's. You may not dwell on their importance, until they are compromised or cease to function.

The keynote speaker at OOS/Columbus Audubon's excellent Waterfowl Symposium illuminated the point with a photo presentation on the century's worst man-made ecological disaster. Quite a claim to fame, achieved by the one and only Saddam Hussein of Iraq.

Dr Alwash has been involved in engineering the re-flooding of the southern Iraq marshes, the cradle of mankind and the likely location of Eden. The marsh people of Iraq have thrived here for centuries, co-existing with the land and utilizing the marsh reeds for most of their needs, from fuel to building supplies, until Saddam intentionally left them high and dry. In order to punish the marsh people for rebelling against his power, Saddam drained the marshes- destroying their lives and livelihood.

Today efforts are being made to reintroduce water to this region, once again allowing the marsh reeds to grow and thrive. For the full story, you can go to National Geographic on line and read Iraq's Eden: Reviving the Legendary Marshes.

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.......... Photo from Wiki

And while Americans tend to dismiss all reed grasses as undesirable invasives, even the worst of these harbor an abundance of species, from insects, to frogs and birds. And with proper management some very desirable diversity will thrive along the edges of these areas, i.e. Cleveland Museum's Wakerobin Trail.

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If you are interested in learning more about wetlands diversity be certain to follow this link to the FOWL organizations link where you will find a registration for an upcoming Managing Wetlands for Biodiversity. Greg Lipps will cover the fauna, while Dr Jim Bissell and John Mack will handily address the flora.

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And while you are thinking about wetland conservation... don't forget to purchase your Federal Migratory Bird Hunting and Conservation Stamp to help purchase wetlands. They are not just for "Ducks!" And to support biodiversity in Ohio, look for this Ohio Wildlife Legacy Stamp. We will be selling them on the upcoming GMAS trip to Killdeer Plains. So click on our website for details, and plan to meet us there March 6th, 2010. Hope to see you there!

Conservation and CBCs

It was a soft falling snow that covered our county yesterday, and it only enhanced the scenery for our local Christmas Bird Count. CBCs are an annual assessment of birds and their population trends, and those numbers are certainly impacted by human population trends as well.

A sepia colored world.

Think like a bird and find open water in the morning; birds are attracted to water. Just like the rest of us, they gotta drink. On the far north edge of town, this babbling creek was a welcome sight: soothing to both eyes and ears. I stayed to commune with the birds.

Most of my Mansfield CBC route is urban, and becoming more so. The Mansfield Reformatory (home to 12,000 crows and 500 Canada geese), trashed out trailers, run down homes- sometimes it felt like the "Oxycontin Heights" tour.

Woodlots are becoming farther and fewer between in this quadrant. And where construction has not wiped them out, signs indicate it is on the way. Birds in decline? People are making impacts.

Another new gas staion, another housing development- and yet within a mile- houses and stations are already abandoned. Maybe we need to re-think the impact we humans are making?


Two places were highlights on my urban and industrial bird tour, the OSU Campus and a Sportman's Club. The OSU campus has a natural landscape and should be emulated by homeowners. I'll feature some photos in an upcoming blog.


And hurray for the hunters! What can I say? The best piece of habitat I saw all day is a huge hunt club, conserving vast acres of woods, grassland and wetland. Ok, Bambi and the pheasants are living on the edge here, but the benefits to other wildlife was obvious. The raptor count soared!

Birders and hunters- we all basically want the same things. Clean water, natural habitats and healthy animals. Let's do a better job of all just getting along!